It's been since the holidays that we've done a GPU buyers guide. It never seems like the right time to do a new GPU buyers guide, as NVIDIA and AMD have been pushing aggressively back and forth for leadership in the market place. When new parts or tweaked cards haven't been coming out, prices have been adjusted quickly to maintain tight competition.

Now is no exception. There are a couple spots in our line up where we will have to make recommendations based on what we know about what's happening in the market place. In competitive reviews, we try very hard to look only at that exact time slice to make our recommendations. In our buyers guides we like to be a little more flexible and take a more retail and market place view rather than the heavily technology and performance based focus of our GPU reviews.

Starting out, we're looking at the roughly $75 market where we split our recommendation between the 4670 and the 9600 GT. Prices have compressed more over the past few months, and the 4670 comes in low enough to cover many needs at very little cost. You can always spend less on graphics and get less, but if you want more than 2D, the 4670 and 9600 GT are where you should start looking.

$75 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4670

 

	ATI Radeon HD 4670
Apollo	$64.99
Gigabyte	$79.99
Sapphire	$69.99

 

And we've got the GeForce 9600 GT. Just a little more performance in some games, maybe a little less in others, with roughly the same cost. But if you want any more than that, you'll want to wait about a month.

$75 Recommendation: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT

	NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Apollo	$74.99
Gigabyte	$67.99
Sparkle	$89.99
PNY	$97.99

 

For our ~$100 price point (plus or minus a bit) we are going to strongly recommend that people wait for about a month. This price point will be shaken up a bit in about that time and we really aren't comfortable recommending anyone purchase something in this market until sometime in early May. This may or may not further compress the sub $100 market, but there really isn't much more room down there, so we don't expect much change except at right around $100.

For our ~$100 price point (plus or minus a bit) we are going to strongly recommend that people wait for about a month. This price point will be shaken up a bit in about that time and we really aren't comfortable recommending anyone purchase something in this market until sometime in early May. This may or may not further compress the sub $100 market, but there really isn't much more room down there, so we don't expect much change except at right around $100.

~$100 Recommendation: IT'S A TRAP!!! (wait about a month)

It just so happens that this price point is also the highest volume price point. Certainly neither AMD nor NVIDIA will be happy that we recommend waiting, but this is all about the consumer. If you are going to spend about $100 on a video card, just try really hard to wait a little bit longer.

From $130 to $150 we are looking at the a tightly contested price point. At the lower end of the spectrum, the Radeon 4850 gets our nod, while at the higher end the 1GB GTS 250 does perform slightly better in our tests (we do not recommend the 512MB variant though). Whether that slight difference in performance is worth the $20 difference in price really has to be up to the end user, but you get a much bigger bump by jumping up out of the price range to the ATI Radeon 4870 512MB at $165 (which is why we don't recommend the GTS 250 1GB at this point).

$130-$150 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4850

	ATI Radeon HD 4850
PowerColor	$129.99
Diamond	$159.99
XFX	$169.99

This next bit is a little more tricky. Between $165 and $180 there exist the 4870 512MB and 4870 1GB. These cards perform nearly the same at lower resolutions, so for gamers with 1680x1050 and lower resolution monitors, we would recommend the 512MB variant with the caveat that some games are becoming memory hogs. The 1GB might be slightly more future proof, but it's really hard to say whether or not that will last beyond when you'd want to upgrade both either way when talking about 1680x1050 and lower.

$165 (At 1680x1050 and Below) Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870

	ATI Radeon HD 4870
ASUS	$164.99
HIS	$169.99

 

At resolutions above 1680x1050, the 1GB 4870 and the GTX 260 core 216 are both viable options that come in at $180. So save $20 at average to lower resolutions or make a choice based on the games you play (or preference for a hardware designer) at higher resolutions. NVIDIA and AMD really do trade blows depending on the games we choose to test, so if you want the best performance at this price point, you'll have to pick the games in which performance matters most to you.

$180 Recommendation: End User Preference (4870 1GB or GTX 260 core 216)

At the $180 - $280 range, we are going to ask our readers to wait until the end of this week to make a decision. If you want a little more power than the 4870 1GB / GTX 260, but you don't want to spend the money required to push up to the next price point, we might have something (or two somethings) for you.

$180 - $280 Recommendation: Almost There ... Stay on Target (Wait a few more days)

I wish we could talk about this a little more now, but all will be clear by the end of the week.

The only real options between $280 and $400 are the 4850 X2 2GB and GTX 285 (we could only find the GTX 280 for a couple bucks less negating the value). Making this choice isn't for the feint of heart though. Yes, the GTX 285 does offer the highest performance of a single GPU solution in many cases. But the fact that the 4870 costs just a little more than half as much, and in some cases performs higher, leaves a sour taste in our mouths.

The fact that the 4850 X2 2GB comes in at the low end of this price range and the GTX 285 requires an investment of at least $50 more dollars tilts our recommendation heavily in favor of the 4850 X2 2GB in terms of value. But at the same time, Sapphire is still the only vendor out there building the 4850 X2. And while current drivers are doing pretty well, we are still reeling from the AMD driver issues we had from the end of last year up through the beginning of this year.

So there are caveats for both options. But our recommendation is the 4850 X2 2GB.

$280 - $400 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB

	ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB
Sapphire	$279.99

 

At the highest end, there are only two options left. The 4870 X2 and the GTX 295. The GTX 295 is much more expensive, but does outperform th 4870 X2 in most cases. There are some games where the 4870 X2 does top the GTX 295, just like the 4870 1GB sometimes leads the GTX 285. But really it's diminishing returns.

If you want the top of the line, the choice is clear: the option is the GTX 295. If you want top of the line performance without breaking the bank as hard, the 4870 X2 would be the option to go with.

Our recommendation is that there are something like two games where this level of hardware make any difference at all. But if you have the money to spend we're going to go ahead and recommend the part that delivers better price/performance: the Radeon 4870 X2.

$400+ Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2

	ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Sapphire	$429.99
Diamond	$449.99

 

That does it for our spring GPU buyers guide. We'll fill in one gap shortly, and the highest volume slot at $100 will make more sense (maybe) in about a months time.